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Emma G,
I agree with Mellow. I've read everything by Morrison--except her last which sounded like a dippy romance. Favorites are Bluest Eye and Beloved. I also reread Bluest Eye a few years ago. Just as sad and powerful the second time.

Also, if I remember right, I wasn't that crazy about Sula but don't remember why.

Kathy,

I appreciate your generosity but please don't bring any you mentioned. I'm pretty sure I've read all of Sedaris, and once upon a time I ploughed through a Wouk--an experience I never want to repeat.

Martha, I obviously didn't make it over today. And I obviously didn't explain which books I had for you.

I wasn't going to bring Wouk over. I ordered the two copies for other people; however, this is not a traditional Wouk book, it is a primer to the Jewish faith and I found it fascinating. It explains why practicing Jewish people do the things they do such as the ritual bath, blah, blah.

For instance, I find it fascinating that because of Jewish Law, a man could not be with a woman until she had finished her menses and had a ritual bath. It works out so that the woman is most fertile when she is available to meet her husband in the biblical sense. By then he is horny as hell. Call it ironic; but you gotta admit that was a pretty good method to insure the Jewish people would reproduce themselves.

Don't you not want "Birds of Prey" back? That was one of the two book you loaned me? I have it and the other hard back, "Let Me Count The Ways."

I thought one of your nurses might like to read the mob book even if you don't.

Just let me know.

If it's a mystery, I can offer it to Joan.

Yeah, I'll return BIRDS to Joan.

I want to read WAYS again to see what didn't bother me the other times I read it. Maybe it's like "Rape" in THE FANTASTICS. Now the lyrics bother me; they didn't in the sixties and seventies.

Just finished a most inspiring book, Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. It is the story of Greg, an American who set out in 1993 to climb K2, failed and that failure led to an amazing life of venturing on his own into the farthest northern provinces of first Pakistan and later Afghanistan to build schools where none had ever existed.

He has made it a special point to never use any government funds, never push any philosophy other than all children need education, especially the girls who were never permitted it before.

Just amazing what one person can make happen.

Three Cups of Tea website

I was surprised how much I liked Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake. I think it was a Kathy book that at first sounded boring. Then when I was getting a box of stuff to go to the library, I took another look and decided I'd been wrong. So I was right; I was wrong.

The Namesake is a two-generation saga about an Indian family that has come to the United States. It's the story of the parents who make the trip and adjust, and of their children, born in America and therefore even more American than the adjusted parents.

Overall, I wasn't all that crazy about Lahiri's writing style, it being far too descriptive for my taste. But then, halfway through the book, she started writing sentences and thoughts that grabbed me.

1) Ashami, the mother, is addressing Christmas (OK, seasonal greeting) cards and counts up the number of houses in which she has lived. Turns out to be five, and she thinks, "A lifetime in a fist." (page 167) I liked the simple clarity and, a few paragraphs later, that it led so softly into a major and heartbreaking plot twist.

2) Much, much later Ashami puts on a bathrobe and remembers it was a present selected and bought by one of her children so her husband could sign the gift card. "She does not fault him for this. Such omissions of devotion, of affection, she knows now do not matter in the end." (page 279) My hunch is she's right.

Have to admit that the picky critic showed up once. Late in the book, Gogol, the son, is thinking about his early relationship with Moushumi, the woman he marries. He remembers their spending an afternoon in a bar, designing the house in which they would one day live. "It was before they'd slept together, and he remembers how they'd both grown embarrassed when deciding where the bedroom would go." (page 241) I don't think so. They meet at a bar after Gogol's mother talks him into calling Moushumi—they attended Indian get-togethers as children. They get along over a drink, so they have dinner. He invites her to lunch the next week, during which she offers to cook dinner for him the following Saturday. He arrives, and they hop into bed. The hopping into bed bothers me not at all. But an author losing track of her timeline? That's another story.

In spite of the glitch, I liked the book. Lahiri has won a Pulitzer for a book of short stories. It's on my list.

I didn't really get into Leslie Jordan's My Trip Down the Pink Carpet until I realized who Leslie Jordan was. He apparently made a big splash in Will and Grace. Couldn’t prove it by me. I was so turned off by one of its commercials when it first came on that I refused ever to watch it. At the same time, though, there was this weird little actor who I really liked. One of those I've-seen-him-somewhere-before-but-where guys. Then he mentioned a recurring role on The Practice, there was a picture, and I remembered. Cool book. Sweet.

Qualifying moments:

1) "She was Atlanta's version of Edie Sedgwick." (page 53) Interesting concept. The South produces Edie Sedgewicks—although I never thought about it before. Many of them show up as secondary characters in Tennessee William's plays.

2) "In the South we do not put crazy people away—we put them out on the porch where everyone can enjoy them!" (page 87) I'm so glad I came south before I morphed into what I've become. Kathy, however, is the real southern thing. (It's a compliment, Kathy.)

3) Leslie observes men; no one is exempt. "Not construction workers, policemen, lawyers, weathermen on TV, school principals, coaches, NASCAR drivers, four-star generals, other military men, a U.S. president or two (excluding Bush Jr.—never thought about it could care less), English heirs to the throne, all male actors except Tom Cruise (whose religious fervor bugs me), mayors (especially those from San Francisco), and certainly no man who dares to venture out in those tight bicycle shorts. They are really asking for it!" (page 161)

It's a fun book. A lot like reading David Sedaris.

If you get a chance take a look at Leslie's latest on Sordid Lives a series now on Logo/VH1

Martha, I so glad you found reading "Pink Carpet" as much fun as I did. After I read the book, I wrote Mr. Jordan on his (is it Facebook or My Space) web page. I told him that I too was a recovering Southern Baptist. I received the sweetest note from him.

...and Martha, thanks for the complement,.....I think..... Just as all minorities should, I like to embrace what makes me unique.

Phil, I've been recording and watching "Sordid Lives." A little bit of that goes a long way. It's sort of similar to watching Carol Burnett's "Mama's Family." Too much watching at one sitting can cause what I would imagine would be an insulin overdose; but extremely funny in small bits.

Has anybody read Chris Buckley's Supreme Courtship? I'm listening to an interview right now. It's a novel about a President who, in frustration, appoints a "bespectacled tv hottie" to the Supreme Court.

Given that the novel was finished in January and Buckley is on book tour now it's interesting to see how reality has turned out.

The book, however, goes further. The aforsaid tv hottie's tv job was judge over a tv courtroom. As she goes to Washington, her husband gets a great role on another tv show - playing the president of the United States.

The novel is said to explore the ways that tv and reality have now merged. The interview has been really interesting. Not sure I want to pay hardcover price for it, but I'll put my name on the library list today.

(Wow - the book is still on order, and I'm 24th in line...)

Just got off the phone with my son. Mr. Mortenson is scheduled to talk at his college tonight in Durango, CO. Son and fiancee are planning to attend the sold-out event, as they have read (or are reading) the book. The book was also chosen as this year's Freshman "Read" with copies given out to all new freshmen.

I'll have to get a copy.